Amidst record-low voter turnout province-wide June 2, 2022, PC Laurie Scott recorded another sweeping victory in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, garnering 52.8 per cent of the local vote (25,656 total votes). It handed her a sixth term in office.
Barbara Doyle, representing the NDP, finished a distant second, with 15.8 per cent (7,677 votes). She is running again.
Liberal Don McBey came third with 13.6 per cent (6,606 votes). He’s been replaced as a candidate by Cannington businessperson Alison Bennie.
The others, Ontario Party, Greens, New Blue Party and Libertarian, had a combined 17.9 per cent (8,697 votes).
In total, 48,636 ballots were cast in HKLB – down from 57,143 in 2018. That was a voter turnout of less than 50 per cent for the first time in more than 25 years.
We could play the what if game. What if the other 50 per cent had voted? Would Scott still have won by a landslide?
What if the riding’s votes had not been so split? What if there was just an NDP candidate, or just a Liberal candidate?
With advance polls getting underway today – and it’s true: there isn’t one in Minden – and the full ballot Feb. 27, what can we extrapolate?
We don’t think voter turnout numbers are going to improve … in the dead of winter … with many snowbirds and travellers out of the province. What if we get another dump of snow on polling day?
Why do people not vote? Many say they are not interested in politics. I’m not buying it. Are you telling me you are not interested when you don’t have a family doctor? Do you not have an opinion about a tunnel under the 401 that would cost billions? Conversely, do you not have a thought about the Liberals, NDP and Greens promising to double ODSP? Committed platforms run the gamut. Does your kid go to college or university? The Liberals would scrap interest on OSAP loans and raise the threshold for repayment to $50,000. The Greens are promising an extra $1,500 per-student funding. Maybe your kid will get that EA now. But I guess you don’t care.
Too busy? Are you serious? I’m not buying that excuse either.
Locally, with nine candidates, there is going to be some vote splitting that will likely benefit the incumbent.
On that night in June 2022 when Scott got the nod from voters, she said while door-knocking, she heard people liked what the Ford government had been doing, citing investments in infrastructure, broadband, highways, transit, long-term care, hospitals, and new schools.
In Haliburton County, Scott said the province would be working with senior administration at Haliburton Highlands Health Services to ensure the hospitals’ needs were met. The Minden ER was subsequently closed, though Scott said that was entirely a HHHS decision.
She spoke of more money for high-speed broadband by 2025 – a project that has seen delays at the Eastern Ontario Regional Network level.
She discussed continued investment in jobs training and post-secondary education for fields most in-need, such as nursing, PSWs and skilled trades. Yet, our area remains lacking.
Another of Scott’s big focuses was to work with municipalities across the Highlands to address the region’s housing needs. There has been little progress to date.
However, there have been other initiatives, such as a planned extension to the privately-owned Extendicare Haliburton. And, $2.4 million to put towards an affordable housing project in Minden. Of course, the latter is taxpayers’ money.
It is now up to voters to decide whether or not she has done enough to earn a seventh term.
We’re not telling you who to vote for. But we are telling you to vote.
